Twistex's 74 Duster log.
"You're On the list at every door,
You don't bowl or race fast cars.
Composition, competition, you drive."
(Warning! This entry is image-heavy! 56kers.. sorry!)
Well, another weekend of turning wrenches done with. Didn't get tons done, but it felt productive, so we'll rest upon the feeling of satisfaction.
First things first, I picked up a 6th spark plug, and quickly swapped that in. Then, I planned to do an oil change. However, cold oil doesn't drain as well, so I needed to warm up the engine a bit. Hop in, turn the key.. Sputter, clickclickclickclick. Arg. The damn battery is nearly dead.. again. I even left it unhooked this time! Guess I didn't charge it enough. Once again, pop the mustang into the driveway, run the cables, let it charge idle for a minute or two, and then.. *turn key* vrooom! Sweet. Step out of the car, sputter, sputter die. Damnit. Needs more gas. So, I dump another gallon and a half in. Then, start, run, sputter die? What the hell? Try it again, listening very carefully.. Start, vroom.. try to idle, choke, cough die. Oh. Damn. My idle is really off.
So, once again, under the hood and fiddling with knobs and switches. No, not actually. Fiddling with one screw. I love old cars. Carburetors are so easy to work on. Just use a screwdriver and adjust my idle mixture, and *poof*, the Duster is idling away just fine.
Videos!
Yes, that's the remains of my exhaust pipe.
It sounds like several large, angry pigs.
Once there's a muffler on it, it'll sound less amusing, which is sad. it will be street-legal however, which is happy.
So, so far.. to get an engine, that's been sitting in a field for nearly a decade, running.. It's required 6 spark plugs, a new battery, some replacement fuel lines, and a screwdriver. I hope the rest of the work is this easy!
So, the carb is mostly dialed in. It's running a bit rich, but otherwise fine. I let it idle for a while. Occasionally playing with the throttle and listening to the pigs roar. Smoke starts to billow from the engine compartment. Swearing a blue streak, I rush up and start looking for signs of death and fire. The people around me are getting worried that my project is about to explode in flames. Then, I start laughing. Why? because last time I was working on it, I sprayed a good coat of degreaser all over the block and head, to break up the accumulated filth of years.
Eww. Anyways, a nice coat of degreaser had pooled into some places on the block and exhaust header, and was burning off. No death by fire for my car!
After it ran for a while, I shut it down and crawled underneathwith a drip pan and my gloves on. The oil pan drain was easy as pie to find and release. I'm also very glad I had my gloves on. The initial glut of oil all over my hand was very warm and very messy. Without too much of a mess later, I had the pan drained, and the old filter pulled.
Mmm.. 10 year old oil..
4qts drained, oil filter swapped, new oil in..
Pretty good progress, as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not just working on the car on weekends, either. During the week I'm getting my gearhead groove on by dreaming up what I want to turn this junker into. Some time with google image seearch and photoshop..
So without further ado.. I introduce you to..
Project Duster.
Hopefully, I'll have a looker on my hands when all is done.
The wheel/rim combo on the image is a bit much, though. I'll most likely leave the stocks with the dog dishes on until I decide what I want it to roll on. I'll also have to figure out if I'm going to to a disc swap on it, or just try and rebuild the drums. That'll be a learning experience!
"You're On the list at every door,
You don't bowl or race fast cars.
Composition, competition, you drive."
(Warning! This entry is image-heavy! 56kers.. sorry!)
Well, another weekend of turning wrenches done with. Didn't get tons done, but it felt productive, so we'll rest upon the feeling of satisfaction.
First things first, I picked up a 6th spark plug, and quickly swapped that in. Then, I planned to do an oil change. However, cold oil doesn't drain as well, so I needed to warm up the engine a bit. Hop in, turn the key.. Sputter, clickclickclickclick. Arg. The damn battery is nearly dead.. again. I even left it unhooked this time! Guess I didn't charge it enough. Once again, pop the mustang into the driveway, run the cables, let it charge idle for a minute or two, and then.. *turn key* vrooom! Sweet. Step out of the car, sputter, sputter die. Damnit. Needs more gas. So, I dump another gallon and a half in. Then, start, run, sputter die? What the hell? Try it again, listening very carefully.. Start, vroom.. try to idle, choke, cough die. Oh. Damn. My idle is really off.
So, once again, under the hood and fiddling with knobs and switches. No, not actually. Fiddling with one screw. I love old cars. Carburetors are so easy to work on. Just use a screwdriver and adjust my idle mixture, and *poof*, the Duster is idling away just fine.
Videos!
Yes, that's the remains of my exhaust pipe.
It sounds like several large, angry pigs.
Once there's a muffler on it, it'll sound less amusing, which is sad. it will be street-legal however, which is happy.
So, so far.. to get an engine, that's been sitting in a field for nearly a decade, running.. It's required 6 spark plugs, a new battery, some replacement fuel lines, and a screwdriver. I hope the rest of the work is this easy!
So, the carb is mostly dialed in. It's running a bit rich, but otherwise fine. I let it idle for a while. Occasionally playing with the throttle and listening to the pigs roar. Smoke starts to billow from the engine compartment. Swearing a blue streak, I rush up and start looking for signs of death and fire. The people around me are getting worried that my project is about to explode in flames. Then, I start laughing. Why? because last time I was working on it, I sprayed a good coat of degreaser all over the block and head, to break up the accumulated filth of years.
Eww. Anyways, a nice coat of degreaser had pooled into some places on the block and exhaust header, and was burning off. No death by fire for my car!
After it ran for a while, I shut it down and crawled underneathwith a drip pan and my gloves on. The oil pan drain was easy as pie to find and release. I'm also very glad I had my gloves on. The initial glut of oil all over my hand was very warm and very messy. Without too much of a mess later, I had the pan drained, and the old filter pulled.
Mmm.. 10 year old oil..
4qts drained, oil filter swapped, new oil in..
Pretty good progress, as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not just working on the car on weekends, either. During the week I'm getting my gearhead groove on by dreaming up what I want to turn this junker into. Some time with google image seearch and photoshop..
So without further ado.. I introduce you to..
Project Duster.
Hopefully, I'll have a looker on my hands when all is done.
The wheel/rim combo on the image is a bit much, though. I'll most likely leave the stocks with the dog dishes on until I decide what I want it to roll on. I'll also have to figure out if I'm going to to a disc swap on it, or just try and rebuild the drums. That'll be a learning experience!